in the 12 hours we've seen about 3-inches of rain throughout the bay area. you can see the areas of heavy rainfall. it stopped around 11:00, one thing that's consistent rainfall on the bridges. the bay bridge, the richmond bridge, the san mateo bridge. the commute is a mess. the real story is the santa cruz mountains where at 3:00 the national weather service issued a flash flood warning for the san lorenzo creek. this just in, the warning has been extended until 5:00. rainfall rates of up to an inch to two inches an hour. officials have issued the flash flood warning for the san lorenzo river. stays in effect another hour.

we're digging up the socal one. that one was supposed to be dropped at five. we'll find out about that. needles to say this is how we talked about last night. this thing hit the morning commute. it was a big one. a lot of rain and a lot of wind. let's give you more now on that flash flood warning. people near the san lorenzo river have been forced from their home for their own safety. this has been a treacherous day in the san mateo mountains. >> reporter: [audio difficulties] >> reporter: at around 10:00 this morning this 100 to 150- foot fir street came crashing down on this scott valley home on nelson road.

demolishing the entire central ridge of the house. a woman was inside the home but she was able to get out. santa cruz county had planned to build a temporary road but the storm put those plans on hold. >> it's pretty gnarly out here. there's a lot of stuff happening out here in the last week or so. >> reporter: you wouldn't be surprised if they didn't do anything today. >> not at all. it's a river running down the road. >> reporter: and of course it's the river here, the san lorenzo river that has everybody concerned. about 700 people who live alongside the river have evacuated. they've been told by county office of emergency services to leave their homes with the

reverse 911 call. it's a precautionary measure. at this point, they're going to keep people away from their homes, again as you heard earlier the flash flood warning has been extended until 6:00. we'll keep our eye out on this river and the people who live around it and give you an update at 6:00. robert handa, ktvu channel 2 news. now to the east bay where it's taken drivers an hour and a half just to drive from fremont to oakland because of emergency lane closures due to all the rain. john sasaki is live with more on that and other serious problems from this storm, john. >> reporter: today's downpour has been wreaking havoc. two ahead and take a look at the left lanes. crews are filling potholes, closed down two lanes. the right two lanes as you're going northbound. looking at our 880 cam you can see traffic back up as it has been for several hours past the

coliseum and all the way down into the hayward area. one of the most dramatic scenes of the day wasn't on the freeways but rather in the oakland hills. the driver of this toyota had the ride of a lifetime today on canyon road. she tells me she was headed to work as a house cleaner when she hydroplaned from the road to 4 feet of water. >> the water is up, up, up, up. >> rising. >> yes. >> reporter: she was lucky, because the nearest fire station was just a couple of hundred yards away. >> the guys down the street, public works have a big tractor. wheels up to this. and i got to thinking, why don't you put me on a shovel and we'll roll over there. we got up to the hatch back. i had them lower the shovel, and i was able to open up the hatch back. >> reporter: the storm run off was way too much for this

manhole to hold back. on snake road near colton, an example of the power of all this rain. it took down a full tree. this pine tree had to be cut into pieces to be cleared. these caltrans workers have been running all day. this is another spot in oakland at woodriff and excelsier. back here live at 880. live in oakland, i'm john sasaki, ktvu news. it's not just 880 that is backed up. ktvu's sal castaneda is in the traffic center to tell us which areas to avoid. how bad is it out there? >> reporter: it is not good at all. john just showed the 880 picture northbound. some people think, not a problem i'll get on 580.

but i want to show you 580, it is a mess because there's flooding. a lot of people getting on 580, that is very slow. as you cross the bridge, san francisco northbound 101 is backed up from near silver avenue to the lower deck of the bay bridge. we are just getting this into the newsroom. that the ace train has stopped running because of a mud slide that came on the track. so train service has been stopped because of a mud slide. they do have a bus bridge set up. but the train is not running and we'll get you more information on that as it develops. now let's go back to the studio. now back to the hardest hit areas today, the north bay. today's storm brought more than 2-inches of rain there. mike mibach now live. you saw flooding and a small landslide. >> reporter: even a sewage spill, there was so much rain out here that the sewage system reached its capacity. there was a few spill just about a half of mile to the

west of us. the ross valley just got pounded today. as you can see it has remained within its banks. the biggest problem out here was rain running off the hillsides and right into a couple of businesses. the calls kept coming and so did the rain. from store fronts, to streets, to yards. the running water -- it just started coming in? >> uh-huh. >> reporter: was coming off of everywhere. >> the ground is obviously saturated we haven't been able to stop any of the flooding. >> reporter: the suddenly late morning run off started going into business. businesses closed the door and put out the bags. >> i would say an inch an hour. >> what have you been doing? >> just sandbagging. >> reporter: up in the hills, more water, so much it popped up a manhole a half mile away.

charlie matt was dealing with another issue. a small landslide that came close to oozing into his house. >> i heard the louder sound of the rain and water coming down the normal. came outside, and walked right into the mud. >> reporter: then there's fred oconnell who says a similar flood damaged his house about three years ago, this time around he raised his home and it worked. >> there was like a sheet, sheets of stuff coming down. >> reporter: coming down the street. >> river avenue? >> river avenue, yeah. >> reporter: and the water continues to run but luckily it has stopped rising within the past 15 minutes. sonoma county took a bit hit as well. a 50-foot fir tree toppled along the russian river. no one was hurt and incredibly the roof didn't completely cave

in. but the homeowner who watched it happen says it was a close call. >> i was just watching the trees for the wind. and then i saw one branch coming down and i thought it was just a branch coming on the roof and it was the whole tree slow motion coming downright on top of it. and went right over the top of my head. >> another tree came down on the bohemian highway on the small town of camp nicker. the tree brought down a serious of power lines, cutting power, cable and phone service to the town's 350 residents. earlier today the highway patrol warned trucks and recreational vehicles to stay off the bridge. heavy rain and high winds slowed traffic. let's give you a live picture now from the richmond bridge. the chp says it lifted the advisory 90 minutes ago. they also say there was no

major incidents on the bridge. and roads were closed in pacifica because of a fallen comcast cable. the cable fell because the utility pole it was attached to was toppled over. comcast crews cleared the road and it reopened shortly after 2:00 this afternoon. the big storm has knocked out power to thousands of bay area homes and business today. pg & e crews have been scrambles to get the power turned back on for customers. in the north bay, 2,400 customers have lost power. in the east bay, a thousand. on the peninsula 800 and in the south bay 700. in san francisco right now no customers are without power. if you're headed to the sierra pack your change. snow has been falling all day long now -- pack your chains. snow has been falling all day long now. let's take live look now at what's happening in truckee. you can't see because of all

the snow. coming up, ken pritchett is in the snow. he's up live in the sierra. he's going to show us exactly what it's been like there today. keep in mind we do have continuing weather news coverage. you can track the weather any time in your neighborhood with live storm tracker 2 coverage. you will find it all when you click on our website ktvu.com. and the key witness in the case of chauncey bailey took the stand today. and rob roth has the story, and he tells us that there were some awkward moments. >> reporter: the key witness took the stand today, the man who has confessed of killing bailey. the prosecution is attempting to give the jury the day the

former leader of your black muslim bakery ordered brussard to kill chauncey bailey. brussard testified that he asked bailey for a job and he said they told him, quote they needed more soldiers. he testified the bakery provided security including at an elementary school. brussard has agreed to testify in return for a lighter sentence. bay's attorney has called brussard a liar. >> when you see him in the prosecution, you will see that this is somebody that says whatever people want him to say if it benefits him. >> when he was making those conflicting statements that he was confused about what his

rights were and what he could do. >> reporter: no court tomorrow, brussard is scheduled to return to the witness much of next week. reporting live in oakland, rob roth, ktvu channel 2 news. sport meters were only a part of a criticism aimed at pg & e. i'm consumer editor tom vacar, the laundry list still ahead. and this just in, another flash flood warning in effect this time for pescadero creek. when i come back we'll tell you what that entails. we'll talk about the heavy rain and what has is to come in the next several hours.

the state public utility's commission has ordered pg & e to show up next friday to show why they are not in contempt.

pg & e has agreed to a deal in which it would pay $3 million in fines immediately if found in content. and another 3 million if it doesn't meet upcoming deadlines. the controversy over those smart meters heated up today as pg & e submitted a plan to the utilities commission. tom vacar is live to tell us about the proposal and how it would let customers opt out of having those smart meters installed. >> reporter: it's a lot more than that. for beleaguers pg & e, months and months of negative reaction shocked the utility so much so it's causing even it to step backing away. >> reporter: dozens upon dozens of speakers took a few hours to rail mostly about everything pg

& e. amongst them smart meters. >> the smart meter opt out is an insult to californians who know about this broken program. it is not fixable. >> overwhelming lack of security and safety and exposing the population to constantly large amounts of radiation. in fact, these problems were non nonexistent with the analog meters. >> it sounds a lot like extortion to me. >> new member, you have a chance to do it right. bring back the analogs. >> stop the problem now. reinstall analog meters. start doing it now and stop wasting our time. >> reporter: also reaction of the japan troubled nuclear

plant caused the closure of a local nuclear power plant. >> let what is happening in japan be a lesson. >> reporter: ktvu channel 2 news. in japan tonight another set back for the crews at the damaged nuclear power plant. two workers were rushed to the hospital after stepping into radiation standing water. the two were standing on a floor near the number three reactor. a third worker was also exposed to radiation but did not require any treatment. off the coast of japan, more than 300 military personnel helped scrub down the u.s.s. ronald reagan. navy officials say the carrier,

crew and all aircraft will be rechecked for radiation after the clean up. in tokyo, people are still stocking up on bottled water despite better news today about the water quality. but the governor of tokyo said the government will continue to distribute water for children to drink just in case. a strong earthquake shoot parts of north asian today. near the borders with thailand and laos. some people felt the earthquake some 400 miles away in bangkok. and today yosemite has announced they reopened all the entrances to the park. we brought you the story on monday when much of the park was closed because of heavy snow and rock slides.

although a winter storm warning remains in effect until tomorrow morning. yosemite officials hope to fully reopen the park tomorrow. power is still up but they hope to have it up by this weekend. and our chief meteorologist bill martin just got news of a flash flood warning. >> this morning's rain was extreme rain. now it's heavy rain. so we've had a really problem. you have standing water there, you have the bridges are wet, not as much wind as we had earlier. then we head over to santa cruz, to south bay. the heaviest rain of all has been in the santa cruz mountains. let's go over by pescadero you can see where the heaviest rain

is falling now. we'll switch graphics. flash flood warning in santa cruz. they've extended the warning in the san lorenzo river. the san lorenzo river is a pretty big river and they've had problems with it in the past. flash flood warning in the san lorenzo stays in place until 6:00. if you've ever been past half- moon bay over to pescadero you know where this is. all the waterfalling in the hills up to two and 3-inches rushing to the ocean. there's the creek mouth. and the tide is running high. so this high tide is calling

for flash flood warnings. tomorrow the showers back off. we'll see more tomorrow but on and off. in the weekend more showers, i have to tell you. what we just experienced is the real deal. we talked about it. we knew about it. it happened. the rain continues to fall. it is impacting the afternoon commute. we're going to continue to cover the flash flood warnings until they left them. there is a mud slide in miles county. the mud has crossed the tracks which has forced authorities to shut down the trains. we're hoping to bring you more information, . this afternoon with a stroke of his pen, governor brown reduced the budget deficit by 14 billion. how he did it, next.

police and secret service bust a suspected fake i.d. operation in the bay area. who they believe the ids were for. the people you turn to for unemployment may now need help themselves. and we continue to monitor the severe weather in the area.

the u.s. postal service today announced a major job cut. postal officials plan to eliminate 7,500 positions. that's prompting some speculation that the postoffices they manage could be next on the chopping block. the postal service will

allegation close -- will also close seven offices. about four hours ago the governor signed a package of so called trailer bills. they will reduce the budget gap by $14 billion through higher community college fees and spending cuts. but that leaves more than 12 billion in red ink. so governor brown made yet another pitch for a special election on whether to extend temporary tax and fee hikes. >> i find it shocking that elective representatives can so cavalierly say, to people shut up you have no right to weigh in on this. we know the people do not want these cuts. >> the governor said without the tax extensions the state may be forced to make more drastic cuts to programs such as emergency medical services.

the governor said he is negotiating with some gop state senators who may be open to the idea of a special election. you've got basically seven, $8 billion in cuts. the reality of the situation is you have $60 billion in tax extensions over the next five years. governor brown says it's too late to hold a special election on june 7th, but that june 14th is still a possibility. it is another very heavy day of snow in the sierra and it has stopped some people cold in their trip trying to make it over the summit. and he's one of the world's top detectors of performance enhancing drugs and today he had a lot to say at barry bonds' perjury trial here.

up in the sierra tonight they are getting pounded with new snow at least three feet in just the last couple of days. we continue now with our live storm coverage. all the snow also caused white out conditions today and getting from here to there was very, very difficult. ken pritchett is live in blue canyon tonight where boy ken it looks like it is really coming down. >> reporter: frank it is coming down very heavy here at blue canyon. they are stronger winds than we had here yesterday. you mentioned 3 feet of snow, looks like every bit of that of new snow since we were here at bleu canyon yesterday. just trying to walk around in it is nearly impossible. might as well forget about it. we brought a shovel today, not to dig but we brought it for

the truck. the shovel is about five feet. it's gone and i'm nowhere near the bottom. the snow is good for the water supply. but this much snow for the commute over the summit is a real problem. interstate80 is shut down due to low visibility. some people simply had to turn around. >> reporter: this one shot tells the story in the sierra today, a semi truck had just exited in nayak, his trailer twisted and he was stuck. it took several tries to dislodge him. but truck drivers were not alone. >> when i get you out we will turn you around. >> reporter: the driver of this mercedes plowed and lost control. >> i think he might have been going a little fast. >> reporter: there have been many spin out accidents and that's not all. >> a couple of hours ago we had reports of a snow slide, the car went into the freeway and

hit a car up by cisco grove. >> reporter: heavy snow and strong winds caused blows snow to erase visibility at times. we are driving to blue canyon which is about half a mile from our location. if you look ahead you can see there are very few tracks on the roadway. almost no traffic. that's because westbound 80 behind us is closed due to white out conditions. chain controls were in effect this afternoon at the alta exhibit, it was a low snow at around 10,000 feet. some trucks were turned around. tim turruso is driving up but expects a long day. >> probably four or five hours at least. i'm a little out of breath, i tried to walk from where we were before over to what you see here behind me interstate 80. i didn't quite make it. the snow is so deep. but that is interstate 80 looking westbound. almost complete white out

conditions. very few tracks out there. the interstate remains shut down. the only vehicles we see going by are the snowplows. at blue canyon, ken pritchett. and we're going over to fremont, mud is blocking the a train. right now we don't know if the tracks will be clear for tomorrow morning's service. this problem is at the very middle of that rout. to help customers out a bus bridge has been set up. the a train itself is not running and we don't know when it will be up and running again. even an umbrella was not help at all in some parts of the bay. high winds mixed with rain made a wet and dreary day. it was more of the same in san franciscal for a while. in some places it was too much for the roads to handle.

a lot of people arrived to work late. and the weather caused delays for both incoming and departing flights today. san jose international did not have any weather related delays today and neither did oakland international. the shoreline unified school district closed tomales high school, tomales elementary school, west marin school and inverness school. you can track the weather at any time in your neighborhood with live radar

from storm tracker 2. you will get it all when you click on the weather tab on ktvu. rita williams was in court when a top member of the u.s. anti doping agency took the stand in the barry bonds case. >> reporter: frank, one a day. so far we've had three days of testimony and finished with three witnesses. coming and going defendant barry bonds runs the gauntlet of cameras for his perjury trial here. today he and the jury talked to one of the world's experts in detects performance enhancing drugs. dr.anders testified about side effects for using hgh. prosecutors say still to come witnesses will link bonds to

those conditions. road rage, shrunken test cals. enlarged head feet and breasts. acne on upper back and chest, baldness. he also testified about a medicine to find the use of steroids called the clear, or thg. under cross-examination bowers testified that there was no evidence on the clear. just anecdotal evidence. reporting live in san

francisco, rita williams, ktvu channel 2 news. jury selection started today in the trial of a doctor charged in the death of michael jackson. dr.conrad murray has pled not guilty in the death of michael jackson. the jury was asked to fill out a questionnaire and come back to the courtroom in early may. and a small funeral took place today in glendale for elizabeth taylor. a few hundred family and friends . the legendary star who died of congestic heart failure, as well as michael

jackson are buried at this funeral. and police are looking for a sex offenders, why they are saying he is in trouble again. plus it happened in a parking lot 17 years ago. today we're looking into the unsolved murder of this man. and what the latest poll shows about the latest jobless claims.

it was an up day on wall street as investors ignored troubles in japan, libya and the middle east. the dow closed up almost 85 points. the nasdaq closed up 38 points at 2736. there was a bit of good news in the jobs front in california. federal figures released today show 5,050 people less filed for jobless claims. that's because of fewer lay offs in the service sector. nationally the number of people applied for unemployment benefits also fell last week. that is evidence that lay offs are slowing and that employers may be doing more hirer. the federal government reported that the number of filings

dropped 382,000. and target opened up a new location around the boundary of oakland and emeryville in a deal involving redevelopment money in emeryville. the store is been renovated are in watsonville and hollister. health officials in los angeles said they have discovered a high number of an -- germ. the bacterium is resis at resistant to antibiotics. unlike other bacterias, this so called superbug has not spread

outside of the hospital. and there's an increase in ecstasy abuse. most of the patients are between 18 and 29 years old. federal authorities say they are starting an aggressive campaign to stop the increase. the lowest annual number of san francisco's history. doctors say that new drugs are a factor here. the news is not so good in the south bay which is the highest case rate of tb of any metropolitan area. 17 years ago today, a man was shot and killed here in the parking lot of applied materials. hear why police have renewed interest in this case. and we've got two flash flood warnings in effect right now for parts of the bay area. it's raining out there. i'll let you know when it'll stop and when it'll start again. police and secret service

bust a suspected fake i.d. operation in the bay area. who they believe the i.d.s were for. the people you turn to for up unemployment aid may now need help themselves. and we're continuing to follow developing news on mandatory evacuations in the santa cruz area. we have crews on the scene and we'll bring you late breaking details on the situation at this hour. tonight on ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00.

17 years ago today a promising new engineer was shot and killed in the parking lot of applied materials in santa clara. tonight frustration over the unsolved murder has police officers and the family of the victim taking action. janine de la vega live now in santa clara where police made an announcement they hope leads to matt florez' killer. >> reporter: police contacted applied materials and the company agreed to put up a

reward for information about the murder of martinez. this is old home video of matt florez showing off his then eight month daughter danielle. it's memories like this that help his widow danielle being lost. >> this was a loss, not only for matt but a loss for my daughter and a loss for myself. >> reporter: florez had pulled into the parking lot of applied materials just about 8:30 that morning when someone shot him in the back of the head. >> he was such a wonderful man, and person and didn't have an enemy in the world. this just does not make sense. >> reporter: florez wasn't even from the bay area. he had only been in santa clara for less than two weeks and had flown here to go through training at applied material. police are hoping to renew interest in the case. >> we have torn his life apart,

piece by piece. both his personal life, his professional life and his military life and we have found absolutely nothing that points to a motive in this case. >> reporter: investigators say surveillance video shows a four door sport similar to this one driving suspiciously back and forth before florez arrived. >> we don't know for sure that this vehicle is related but we have not been able to identify it even 17 years later. >> reporter: police hope a $17,000 reward will help police. >> now she's getting ready to graduate high school and go on to college. every positive step that she's taken is bittersweet because he's not here to experience it. >> reporter: the family is pleading for anyone who may have information on this case to call police. reporting live from santa clara, janine de la vega ktvu channel 2 news. vallejo police tonight are

asking for the public's help in finding a parol high risk sex offenders. kevin henderson was convicted of raping a school teacher in 1990. he was sentenced to 22 years in prison and after serving his time was paroled. now henderson is wanted for failing to register properly with officials. he drives a 1994 white infinity sedan with a california license plate 6gln391. police believe he could be in vallejo, napa or sacramento. help is on the way, we're getting word of a new trouble spot happening in burlingame. what residents there are doing right now to stop the flood waters from going into their homes. julie haener is joining us with the stories we have coming at

6:00. >> ahead, ktvu uncovers new details about a fake i.d. sting in san francisco's mission district. what one witness says about the allegations against her. plus a new global hot spot for economic growth. just how big the city by the bay could soon get. it's all coming up at 6:00. a heartwarming story tonight, marine mammal rescuers have returned a porpoise to the sea. back now to our weather. the worse is almost over here bill but we're not out of the woods just yet. >> definitely the worse is over. one of the flash flood warnings has been cancelled. it's wet out there. we have lots of rain in san francisco. lots of rain on the bridges.

all the bridges right now are wet. san jose a little bit of heavy rain out. by the airport a little bit of heavy rain. that might give you a little bit of a flight delay. we'll do a quick check on the flash flood warning. this was the big one, they had evacuations up on fellton, this one has been dropped. that flash flood warning. more recently the flash flood warning in pescadero has gone up. if you've been out here, i've heard of no evacuations. that one should get dropped in the next hour or so. so flash flood evacuations remain for pesco. the moisture gets up against these two, 3,000-foot high hills and squeeze the water out. that's why you get mud slides and flooding. two to 3-inches, that's a lot of rain over a large area. so that's what's going on. tomorrow we got a chance for some thundershowers. saturday we bring another weather system out here.

listen, the heavy stuff is over. take a breather. tomorrow is going to be a nice little break. even over the weekend we're not expecting anything huge. tonight's tomorrow was a 9.5 out of 10. 6:00a.m. commute is good. afternoon commute looks good. just scattered showers throughout the forecast area. saturday we have a little something coming in here. we'll look at that, sunday maybe some more. now let me just say this, a quick side know to this. if we had another system lined up out there right now. we have two big ones, this one being the second. if we had one more out there we wouldn't be leaving the newsroom because all of it is right at the brink. but we're getting a break. so great news. >> two to three inches in some places over the last 24 hours, that is a lot of rain.

>> 12 hours. the sheriff's department is asking for help tonight to find two of their rifles. how the thieves managed to take off with them. how the man that arrested the faa found sleeping at the controls said, and what he did about it.

the marine county sheriff's department is investigating the theft of two rifles which look like this one on the screen from its own vehicles. the pickup truck were locked at the garage when someone broke

in between monday night and tuesday morning. the marine county sheriff department is asking anyone who knows about the theft to call them. federal aviation officials are demanding answers after two pilots heard this response from a washington, d.c. control tower. >> the call is on the phone and nobody is answering. >> reporter: it happened early yesterday morning at reagan international airport just miles from the pentagon and the white house. officials say the lone controller on duty is believed to have fallen asleep. the planes landed safely with the help of a regional air traffic controller. a former faa insider says the tower's graveyard shift needs a lot of help there. the air traffic controller who apparently fell asleep has now been suspended from duty. the head of the aviation administration says he is

personally outraged by what happened and has ordered a study of staffers all across the country. >> stay with us. more news is ahead. ktvu channel 2 news at 6:00 is just ahead.

good evening i'm julie haener. >> and i'm frank somerville. the worse of the storm may have moved through the bay area. but today's heavy rain and powerful winds caused a number of problems including saturated soil and flooding all around the bay area. take a look at this, a woman's car left stranded in four feet of water on shepherd county road in the oakland hills. the fire department was called in to rescue her. in the north bay, gusty winds knocked this tree down on a house in monte rio. no one was injured. the rain and wind as brought down another tree. bill martin is tracking the storm front and we have reporters spanned out throughout the bay area. including in the santa cruz mountains where residents were evacuated today. that's where we join robert honda live in felton